On Thanksgiving day back in 1971 America woke up to the exploits of the now infamous hijacker and extortionist D.B. Cooper. According to the news reports of the day, Cooper had commandeered a commercial jetliner the day before and exchanged 36 passengers and two crew members for $200,000 in cash and four parachutes. The death defying swindler was apparently able to evade capture by leaping from the tail of the plane in mid-flight with the ransom money tied around his waist. And if that wasn’t machismo enough, it was soon learned that the outlaw bandit had bailed out at 10,000 feet into a severe winter storm, over impassable mountain terrain, at night, while clad only in a lightweight overcoat, business suit and a pair of slip-on loafers.
The bigger than life persona of the mysterious, misidentified and still at-large renegade has evolved into an icon of the American culture. The legend of D.B. Cooper and his audacious feats are revered as fact around the world; because they represent reality? or because we desperately want them to represent reality?
It seems America will not be denied this epic tale of ingenious criminal exploit or its eternal enshrinement in the self aggrandizing genre of outlaw folklore. So back then as Americans across the nation sat down to their traditional holiday fare of roast turkey, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie they also saved plenty of room for all the makings of what would soon become a modern day American legend.
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